


Enough

by Jimaine



Category: Magic: The Gathering
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, WAFF, post war of the spark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-13
Updated: 2019-06-13
Packaged: 2020-05-07 10:08:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19207213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jimaine/pseuds/Jimaine
Summary: The one-day war for Ravnica’s future was over, but that didn’t mean it hadn’t left it’s echoes. That was to be expected, and already the rebuilding efforts were underway, trying to repair the damage done to the city. Ral had expected that, but some repercussions he hadn’t seen coming, especially the ones on the inside.Or the one where Ral definitly doesn't win the boss of the year award.





	Enough

**Author's Note:**

> Betad and editied by my amazing sister Thren! Thank you girl!

He hadn’t been expecting it to be a problem this time, that was probably part of it. He hadn’t had any reason to brace himself, hadn’t had his guard up. When Ral rounded the corner to his lab with the research notes he’d gone to fetch, already rambling to fill Tomik in on what he’d learned, he’d been entirely unprepared for Tomik not to be right where he left him. 

But Tomik was gone. 

Ral's breath caught uncomfortably in his chest, though he held himself together, barely. The pages dropped from his fingers fluttering to the floor, but Ral took no note of them. He gave his lab a quick once over to verify there weren’t any concealed lawmages in any of its nooks and crannies. 

There weren’t. 

Ral hurried outside, failing to entirely stem the tide of frantic worry rising inside of him. It twisted his guts painfully, making it hard to think. Why wasn't he here?! Ral had barely been gone 20 minutes. Just enough time to get what he needed and exchange theories with the researcher. Ral told himself to calm down, told himself Tomik just went to the washroom, or had to deal with his gargoyle, who had a bad habit of gnawing on the architecture. There were any number of normal places he could have gone, Ral told himself. He told himself the same thing every time Tomik wasn't where he thought he would be… and every time it failed to help.

A couple of guildmages passed by in the main lab, and Ral caught one of them by the arm. “Where did Advokist Vrona go?” he demanded, only a slight waver in his voice. It was still enough for them to give him a concerned look. 

Ral ground his teeth together. He was fine. It was perfectly reasonable to want to know where the man he loved was. Especially when he just disappears without so much as a note or explanation.

The human he’d caught blinked. “Vrona? Isn’t he in your lab?” she craned her head with an innocent look, as if he was some idiot who didn’t know who was or wasn’t in the room he’d just exited. 

The vedalken next to her added, “We’ve been working in bay seven until just now, but I’m afraid we didn’t see him go out.” 

Ral glared at them both, dread opening a pit in his stomach. Tomik was gone, and there were no witnesses? Surely if it had been something benign, he would have been seen. Ral felt his panic rise even further. “Bay seven’s right by the main entrance,” he ground out, trying to keep his voice even. “What in the hell were you doing that you didn’t even notice someone leaving?” What if someone had kidnapped him, gone out through the vents, or broke a window in one of the other labs, or-

“Working, Sir?” the vedalken said, rather flippantly. She took a step back a moment later when she got a look at Ral’s face. Ral grabbed the spindly guildmage by the harness yanking her towards him, her eyes flying open in shock and more than a little fear. “You listen to me,” he snarled in her face, “You’d better start using that memory of yours and tell me exactly who you’ve seen go in and out of here, because Tomik’s missing and as of right now if  _ anything  _ has happened to him, I’m holding you  _ personally _ responsible, do you understand me?!” He couldn't be gone. He couldn't just be gone! Why had Ral left him?! Why hadn't he made Tomik come with him?! Someone had to know something!

“Guildmaster Zarek!” the human exclaimed, her expression bewildered. Her hand shot out, grabbing Ral's arm, whether to stop him or calm him was uncertain. “I swear, we didn’t see anything, you can depend upon it we’d tell you if we had! Mister Vrona probably just-” 

Ral turned on her next as she dared lay a hand on him, his eyes alight with sparks, stopping her cold. If she thought the fact that he wasn't wearing his aculmulator meant she could take such liberties, she was sorely mistaken. His abilities were such that in the heart of the Izzet labs, he frankly didn’t need it. He could feel the crackling energy passing in the pipes and cables all around them; though the exertion of drawing it out directly was significant, he was more than capable of it. She went stiff next to him, but didn't take a step back, though he could see in her eyes that she wanted to. He glanced to her hand on his arm, the arm he still had extended, grasping the other guildmage. She didn't remove it. "What do you think you're doing?" He growled.

She took a deep breath, steeling herself before she spoke. Picking her words carefully, smart move. "I could ask you the same thing," she said with a cool gumption he would have found admirable in one of his people at any other time.

"Excuse me?" He asked, dropping the other woman and turning on her fully. His skin crackled with energy. Was she questioning him? Her guild leader? He stepped towards her and she backed up, though she didn't look away. “What I think _ ,”  _ Ral said cooly, slowly walking towards her, backing her into the corner. He slammed his fist on the wall, a crackle of barely contained electricity skittering in a circular burst along the metal, “is that it’s reprehensible that in the very center of my own guild," his eyes flashed again, "in the care of our most  _ elite _ guildmages," a burst of lightning erupted from his fingertips grounding itself on the floor, "our allies can simply  _ vanish _ without anyone having any idea where they went, or what’s _ happened _ to them or even  _ noticed _ enough to stop whoever- !” 

"Ral!”

Hearing his name Ral whirled around, fingers cracking with energy, only to find himself facing down a startled Tomik.

“What are you doing...?" Tomik asked, his eyes flicking back and forth between Ral and the two women.

Ral looked back at the horrified woman he had backed against the wall and then to her partner slumped on the floor. What  _ was _ he doing? "I…"

Tomik stood there waiting, confusion and concern etched into his features. His eyes kept flicking back and forth between Ral and the guildmages, and Ral desperately wished he'd stop. He felt raw, he felt exposed, he felt...  _ judged _ . Like everyone knew he was losing his mind and there was nothing he could do about it.

"I didn't know where you were," Ral said, looking at Tomik desperately, willing him to understand all the things Ral couldn’t seem to articulate.

"I needed my court notes," Tomik said softly, like he was trying to calm him down. Which was fair, Ral  _ knew _ it was fair. It still made his spine itch. "I had left them in your office. I was only gone ten minutes." Tomik approached him slowly, one hand held out like he thought Ral might explode. Ral ground his teeth together. "I'm fine, Ral. I never even left the building. You can let her go." Ral turned back to the woman and with a downward tick of his lips he stepped away. She quickly moved to her friend, helping her to her feet and both women hurried off in the other direction, disappearing around the corner.

Ral stretched his fingers before balling one hand into a fist, and tensed his forearm. The last of his accumulated energy discharged in a crackle of sparks to the ground.

Tomik was right there a moment later, putting his hand to Ral's arm. He was losing it… hell, he'd already  _ lost _ it. And he could tell from Tomik’s face that he knew. Tomik  _ always _ knew. Somehow, it just made Ral’s insides twist all the more unbearably.

"Ral-" Tomik started gently.

"I didn't know where you were!" He snapped again, raw and and uncontainable. He immediately saw the realization on Tomik's face that this time he wasn't talking about today. Ral turned away sharply, not able to meet Tomik's eyes. 

"I know," Tomik said gently. "But… you can’t keep doing this."

"I can't  _ stop _ Tomik!" Ral said in frustration, hands in his hair. He  _ tried _ to stop,  _ tried _ not to let the panic overwhelm him. This hadn’t been the first time, or even the second or third but every time he just... "I can't…" clenching his fist Ral sought desperately for the right words. "I need to know where you are. You can't just disappear on me."

Tomik put his hand to Ral cheek pulling him around so their eyes met. "Ral I…" he let out a long breath looking to the side, his own frustration evident. "You can't know where I'm at every second of every day. I can't do my job that way, I can't  _ live _ that way. You  _ can’t  _ keep doing this. To me, or to yourself. Or to them… you could have hurt someone."

Pulling back, Ral thumped his fist on the wall before turning to face the corner and sagging into it. "I know."

He took a deep, shaking breath, and tried to calm his fried nerves. Ral felt hands on his hips and when he didn't pull away Tomik wrapped his arms around Ral's waist.

"I'm sorry," Tomik said softly. Ral reached down placing his hand over where Tomik's were clasped around his stomach, and squeezed tightly. He felt Tomik's face press between his shoulder blades, nuzzling against him. Ral let out a heavy sigh, sagging further into the corner. Tomik held him tightly.

"I'm sorry," he said again. "But it wasn't safe there. Too many people knew about our apartment and given your history-" Ral's eyes snapped open, his whole body tightening. Tomik fell silent. Ral didn't want to talk about his 'history'. It was hard enough telling Tomik what he'd done the first time. Rehashing it in any capacity was not high on his list. But Tomik, like always, read him like a godsdamn book and moved on.

"You've been controlled and manipulated enough times by enough people and I… I didn't want to be the thing that perpetuated that." Ral's breath caught and he gripped Tomik's hands a little tighter where they held him. "And when I got out there I realized… there were things I  _ could _ do. I went to the guild. I tried to convince Teysa, but she wouldn't hear it so I talked to the chief enforcer. There's a growing strife between the Oligarchy and the rest of the guild; it's been there for a while and I knew if we pushed the right buttons… but Kaya wouldn't know what they were, or how to manipulate them. So I had to do something. And then I heard about Hekara," again Ral's body tightened, but Tomik pressed a soft kiss to the back of his neck and Ral relaxed. When he spoke again it was soft, gentle. "I knew you still needed the guilds, and I knew with Hekara dead getting Rakdos on board was next to impossible and I just thought… maybe… and then…" this time Tomik took the shaky breath, and Ral felt Tomik's hands move up his ribs and tighten around him. "And then I saw them ripping out sparks..." Tomik's arms tightened around Ral to the point of discomfort, but Ral didn't tell him to stop. Instead he reached back with his free arm and wrapped it a little awkwardly around Tomik. "I didn't know where you were either." Ral heard him take a painfully unsteady breath but didn't turn to look. "I didn't know if you were safe, or if they'd gotten to you and I just… Ral I... I've never loved anyone the way I love you." Ral heard the unsteady way Tomik was breathing and his heart broke. "I know why you're acting the way you're acting. I get it, because I feel it too. But we can't…" Tomik took another hard breath. "We can't…"

Ral turned abruptly pulling Tomik up into a kiss. When he pulled back he rested his forehead to Tomik's and pulled him close. "...I'm sorry too.”

Tomik closed his eyes, and for a moment both of them just breathed. "It's alright. We had things to do, both of us, and it was a war." He made a wry sound that could have been a chuckle but for the fact that there was no humor in it. "It was a  _ war _ . We lived through an actual war, and came out the other side of it. It's bound to leave scars."

"More than a few," Ral added quietly, running his thumb against Tomik's cheek.

Tomik nodded. "More than a few." There was another long pause before either of them spoke. But in the end it was Tomik who picked up the conversation. "But we're stronger than those scars." Tomik said, meeting Ral's eyes. "We've been through too much to let something like this tear us down."

Reaching up Ral brushed back Tomik's hair and found a wan smile on his lips. "Yeah."

Tomik returned the smile and tucked into Ral's neck. "We can do this. It's just you and me, remember?"

"A place where we can be just us," Ral answered gently. He closed his eyes and let himself hold Tomik for a while longer. It wasn't perfect, they'd never been perfect. But they'd always been  _ them _ and for Ral that was enough.


End file.
